This Week in DVD & Blu-ray is a column that compiles all the latest info regarding new DVD and Blu-ray releases, sales, and exclusive deals from stores including Target, Best Buy and Fry’s.

INCEPTION
Inception sets the bar for summer blockbusters. The film is a technical marvel—a thrilling, fun and smart dose of cleverly integrated action and compelling sci-fi gimmicks. Those are aspects I was able to enjoy when I first saw and reviewed the film, but it wasn’t until a second viewing that I was truly able to appreciate the fascinatingly constructed filmmaking metaphor that Nolan had created. In Inception, a team of specialists (read: film crew) take their mark (read: the audience) on a journey, and attempt to surround them in a believable world, burying them deeper and deeper in a narrative in hopes that the emotional catharsis they experience will feel real. With its final moments, Inception seems to be championing the power of film: If the emotional catharsis you experienced felt real to you, does it matter if it’s actually real or not? It’s a poignant note to end a film on, but truthfully it isn’t fully earned, as Inception has no emotional catharsis of its own. The journey we’re meant to invest in is Cobb’s, but his psychological trauma with his wife, while interesting, doesn’t offer much to latch onto emotionally. Were the film not so cold and distant—and were there not such an onslaught of exposition to contend with—Inception might’ve been a masterpiece. As is, it’s still a damn fine piece of cinema, and a worthy addition to any film collection.Available on Blu-ray? Yes.Notable Extras: DVD – Featurettes (“The Inception of Inception”, “The Japanese Castle: The Dream is Collapsing”, “Constructing Paradoxical Architecture – Designing the Staircase to Nowhere”, “The Freight Train – Constructing the Street-Faring Express Train”). Blu-ray – Includes everything on the DVD, as well as Extraction Mode, a Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious Documentary, an Inception: The Cobol Job Digital Motion Comic, Project Somnacin: Confidential Files (via BD-Live), a copy of the DVD, and a digital copy of the film.

Reports are pouring in (via AP) that McDonald’s is voluntarily recalling 12 million Shrek Forever After novelty drinking glasses, after it was discovered that the paint on the sides of the glasses contains the toxic chemical cadmium. Looks like McDonalds and Shrek have found yet another way to poison our children.Read More »

The fourth and final Shrek film, Shrek Forever After, obliterated box office competition this past weekend. Earning over $70 million domestically, Shrek handily beat Iron Man 2, which came in with $26.4 million, and it destroyed MacGruber, which bombed with only a $4 million take.

Given these numbers, the film looks like a financial success at first glance. But a closer examination reveals that it didn’t perform nearly as well as expected under the circumstances. Did high 3-D ticket prices pave the way for Shrek’s disappointing box office take?

According to the early Friday box office estimates, Universal’s Saturday Night Live big screen adaptation of MacGruber bombed with only $1.6 million on Friday, headed for an estimated weekend total of $4.5 million. Not only did it lose out to the new Shrek film, but also the second weekend of Summit’s romantic drama Letters To Juliet, the second weekend of Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood and the third weekend of Iron Man 2. Shrek Forever After will end the weekend with the top slot with a projected $70 million.

A bunch of new movie posters have been released over the weekend, include two new one-sheets for M Night Shyamalan‘s big screen live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender, a higher resolution version of last week’s poster for Christopher Nolan‘s Inception, a UK one-sheet for Shrek Forever After, a French poster for The Karate Kid, Sex and the City 2, and I Spit On Your Grave. Check them out now, after the jump.

The new Shrek sequel is titled Shrek Forever After, but recent in theater advertising and television marketing for the film sports a different title: Shrek: The Final Chapter. In fact, even the official website for the movie, Shrek.com, even features the “The Final Chapter” title, but no mention of “Shrek Forever After”.

Shrek Forever After premiered Wednesday night at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City. Does DreamWorks Animation have another critical hit on their hands like How To Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda, or is this just another lackluster pop-culture-joke-filled Shrek sequel, one final money grab? We take a look at the early reviews, after the jump.

In our continuing mission to bring you the newest movie posters from around the web, today we have a look at the official poster for the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, a teaser poster for The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, and the final movie poster for Shrek Forever After. Check them out after the jump.

A bunch of new posters and character banners have been released today for films including Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood, DreamWorks’ Shrek Forever After, the comic book adaptation The Losers, and a teaser poster for the third season of HBO’s True Blood. Check them out, after the jump.